The invention relates, in general, to weapons, and, in particular, to the loading and unloading of belted ammunition.
Weapons, such as, for example, machine guns, may have sprocket-type ammunition feed systems. Weapons with fixed-axis sprocket feed systems may require pawls that convert the bi-directional movement of the operating group to a one-way rotational movement of the sprocket. Two pawls may achieve a ratcheting movement that allows the sprocket to turn in only one direction, to index the next ammunition. Therefore, loading and unloading of the ammunition belt may require that the pawls be disengaged from the sprocket, so that the sprocket may freely rotate.